THE QUEEN´S DAUGHTER
CHAPTER FOUR: TELL ME SOMETHING I DON´T KNOW.
Hello everyone! Thanks for all the priceless support, keep it coming! :D
Since I´m bringing Batman in for this chapter, I want to expose my POV about the character, so he won´t be OOC. I´ll try to stick to it as much as it´s humanly possible. I think that the playboy of Bruce´s persona is as much a façade as the dark, despiteful Batman is, and the real man is stuck between them both, he´s the one Alfred and Lucius Fox get to know, which is none of them. So… I informed you thusly :D.
Please, read and review (In that order^^). Opinions, ideas, critics and corrections are always needed and welcomed.
Also, thanks so much to Mari once again :D You rock!
Y gracias a Speis por hacerme escuchar Buena música! Esto va para ti… :)
.-.-.-.-.-
"Of course, that´s why you looked familiar. You look like every picture of your mother I´ve seen."
"You´ve seen pictures… of my mother?" Sophie asked Alex in a faltered, emotion-filled voice.
Amanda rolled her eyes.
"Of course he has. We all have. His father…"
"What happened with her? Where is she? What are you doing here?"
"Please." Sophie interrupted with an anguished tone, despair filling her features. She grabbed hers and Alex´s forearms. "You can´t tell anybody who I am, who my mother is. Promise."
"Why would we promise that?" Amanda scoffed. Gritting her teeth, Sophie squeezed her arm tighter.
Yes, she would think twice before defying the legendary amazon´s daughter.
"Okay, okay. I promise."
"But, why? Why is it such a secret?" Ryan asked. Sophia sighed and released her hostages.
"Because I´m trying to find my father." She whispered, no relieved at all. She didn´t know how much could she trust them. "Of course, you can´t say that either."
"But Sophie…" Alex started, placing his hand on her arm. Her gaze immediately shot to the point where their skin made contact. "My father would really…"
He stopped when the dark figure landed beside them and his gaze immediately fixed on Sophie. When he stood, she had to take a step back. She was tall, but he was taller. The man in the black suit was dreadful and intimidating. Silence washed over them like a tide.
"Great. Time for the bat to spoil the fun." Amanda hissed. He shot her a deathly glare.
She grabbed Sophie´s arm and whispered to her ear.
"I´m sorry about before, I stand corrected. When your mother is Wonder Woman, you can mention her whenever you want. Even in your T-shirt."
The amazon grimaced. Stupid T-shirt!
Both siblings left in the blink of an eye. No look back, no further words. The Dark Knight turned to Alex. Something in his voice made Sophie shiver when he spoke. It wasn´t nice or friendly, and it certainly didn´t inspire trust.
"You should go too, Alex."
He crossed his arms and smirked. The boy wouldn´t allow it to be intimidated in front of his new acquaintance. Specially, in front of her.
"Or what? You´ll tell my father?"
"I´ll call your mother."
"Don´t do that."
He hastily said good bye to Sophie and left.
"Bye." She mumbled, surprised.
He didn´t notice until he arrived home that he had no way to reach her again. Damn it! Will she be that mad if I break my word to tell my father and get his help to find her?
.-.-.-.-.-
The princess was lost in her thoughts when she heard the man´s voice again.
"You are an amazon, aren´t you?"
Sophia gulped, realizing that she was left alone with him. She turned around. He stared at her up and down, as if trying to understand something he couldn´t quite believe, until he finally grabbed her hands to check on her bracelets. It was confusing and annoying, why did she raise the interest of every person she met? She wasn´t expecting that. She didn´t expect people to still remember her mother. Except, perhaps, her father.
But she couldn´t find that out until he was found first, and there was no time to waste.
"Yes, I am… an amazon princess." She replied in a low voice, removing her hands.
That was all the confirmation he needed. The girl was, without a doubt, Diana´s daughter. No wonder then about the astounding resemblance. He stood in front of her, seemingly unperturbed, and she looked into his eyes defiantly. She was taken abash by what she saw. Her attitude immediately changed from aggressive and defensive to somehow soft and understanding.
"My name is Sophia."
Her voice seemed to turn his thoughts back on.
"Do you have a place to stay?"
"No, not yet."
He was mesmerized by her. He needed to say something that would keep her close. Despite everything she did, he still needed her. Like air. But she wasn´t coming back. Why is her child here?
"I have a friend who can help you."
"That would be nice." She smiled. He wasn´t that dark, mean or scary after all.
Did she need to have her smile too? I just hope she can´t sing. Please, don´t sing.
He wrapped his arm around her waist and they took fly. Sophia screamed. She needed a few seconds to understand the gadget he was using to pull them through the city buildings. She watched him do and absorbed the pleasant sights sunset painted for her. And as suddenly as they rose, they were back on the floor. She couldn´t help to gasp at the view in front of her.
It was a huge white mansion, with those gorgeous large windows, and the garden. The amazingly perfect garden. It must the most impressive thing she ever saw.
"Ring the bell and ask for Bruce Wayne. Tell him Batman sends you."
She turned to say thank you, but he was gone. Light and quick as a whisper.
"Thank you." Sophia muttered anyway and rang the bell. She kept looking around.
Certainly someone so rich could help her with the money issues, right?
The wooden doors opened behind her and she had to turn around once more. She found a white-haired, peaceful-looking old man staring back at her.
"Hello." She smiled. "My name is Sophia Prince. I am here to see Bruce Wayne. Batman sends me."
He also seemed numb with surprise at the sight of the princess. But he quickly recovered and bowed.
"Come in, young lady. I´ll warn Master Bruce you´re here."
"Thank you." She nodded and followed him.
She was ushered into an ample room. It seemed like a library. There was a fireplace, but it was off. The curtains were open and sunlight bathed the space deliciously. Sophia didn´t know how long would she have to wait, so she started scanning through the titles.
"Shakespeare, Too much ado about nothing. Cervantes, El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha." She put that one down, she couldn´t read spanish. "Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo."
"That is actually a very good one."
She turned around startled and breathed deeply to calm down her heart, a bird trying to escape her chest. The man was tall and he had his hands on his pockets. A boyish grin decorated his features and his gorgeous green eyes glistened like jewels under the dark sea of his ebony hair. He was sexy, confident and very attractive. He was also forty years old.
"What is it about?"
"Envy, revenge, money."
"Sounds like a very dangerous mix."
"Money is always dangerous in the wrong hands. So is power."
"True. But doesn´t power and money always make it the wrong hands?"
"Not always."
She raised an eyebrow.
"You mean you?"
"I never said I am not the wrong hands."
"Still, Batman trusts you."
"Touché."
She used the conversation to study him discreetly: his voice, his manners, his features. He was actually very close to her and the amazon couldn´t help to think that any woman fallen under his spell couldn´t really be blamed. She extended her hand.
"Sophia Prince."
"Bruce Wayne." He smiled and shook her hand. If he was handsome, his smile was to die for. But he was old, and… well, she had her reasons to keep her attention away from him. She had a mission.
"What brings you here, Sophia?" He asked, sitting down. "Take a seat, please."
She stared into his eyes to reply, and she saw it.
"I met Batman. He said you could help me."
A friend. Sure.
"How can I help you?"
She sighed and took the seat he offered. It wasn´t easy to explain what she had done, what she wanted and, especially, who she was.
"Actually, I have no idea."
"Are you hungry?"
"A little. I brought some cheese and grapes…"
"But I have tea and chocolate cake."
"Sounds lovely."
Bruce called Alfred and they got the tea served in no time. When she saw the food, Sophie realized she was starving. She sipped the hot tea first. It felt so warm and nice.
"So what are you doing in town?" he asked. Sophie stood up and started pacing nervously in front of him.
"The truth?"
"Of course."
"I´m looking for my father." She said simply, grabbing her slice of cake and taking a piece on her spoon. She moaned in delight. "Great Hera, this is so good."
"It is. So… looking for your father, huh?"
She nodded and kept sliding through the book´s titles. The mousetrap, Sophia´s world –she grabbed that one-, The Hunger Games. The cover from the last one was different; it was certainly a recent book.
"Yes, and I don´t have much to begin with."
"You can take the books if you want to. To read them."
Her face lit up. Every second he saw her was making it harder for him.
"Really? Wow, that´s… great! Thank you."
She got the tree of them inside her holdall. She didn´t take The Count of Monte Cristo because it was too big, but she made a vow to read it someday.
"What did your mother tell you about him?"
At the mention of her mother, she stared at him frozen.
"Do you know her?"
"Everybody knows her. The bracelets, the looks. It´s pretty obvious who you are."
"I mean, did you work with her?"
"What?"
"Drop it." She rolled her eyes and took another bite of the cake. "I know you´re the Batman."
He nearly fell of his chair.
"How the…?"
Sophia put her plate down and walked closer. She was standing right in front of him. She placed her hands in the armrests to level her face with his.
"The scar in your jaw, it´s very small, but I noticed it. The size of your hands. The smell of your hair, it´s still the same. And there´s also… your eyes."
"My eyes?"
"Yes, your eyes. There´s some sort of unique sadness behind them. It´s odd, because green is the color of hope, and yet, I can see your… sorrow through it. But it´s more than that. It´s me. There´s some kind of pain because I am here… And I don´t know why."
He had to look away. She was too close to the truth.
"You didn´t answer my question. What did your mother said about your father?"
"Nothing, at all. She never mentioned him until I found out."
"Then, what´s your plan?"
"Suck it, wonder woman!, seriously?" She laughed, grabbing another book. "What is it about?"
"Haven´t read it really, it was written by an actress." He shrugged. She replaced the book on the shelf. "So, your plan is…?"
"Oh, the plan. Sorry. I´ve got a picture. Want to see it?"
Bruce nodded. He liked the girl, a lot. He liked her wits. He loved the way she was so much like her mother –physically, as gorgeous as she was; intellectually, as smart, naïve and strong willed as her too-, and how she was somehow like him too. He found himself wishing, intensely, for the beautiful young girl to be his daughter.
He watched her take a notebook out of her holdall and open it in the first page. He didn´t recognize it. His heart was like a stampede on his chest. She handed the picture. His heart became a void of silence. The picture showed Diana and Clark the day he was invited to give a speech for the city law enforcement corpse. She went with him and they asked her for a speech too. She did wonderfully. She was a wow every day.
He didn´t speak because he couldn´t, his heart stopped running and it would burst. Every hope he had to think she didn´t betray him was gone. She did. And her very offspring was there to boast it on his face. She closed the notebook and stared at him, concerned. She already liked him and that suffering wasn´t nice at all to see. She needed to know. That´s why I´m here, isn´t it?
"Now, you didn´t answer my question."
"What… question?"
"Did you know my mother?"
"I did."
"Did you work with her?"
"That´s a yes too."
Her eyes opened widely in realization.
"Do you… know my father?"
"Positive."
"Tell me everything you know."
Please, don´t make me do it.
"You don´t want to hear it."
"I do. And I want the truth. That is non-negotiable."
"I´m not negotiating."
"And don´t dare lying. You knew her, you know my weapons."
Oh, no. She will. She will make me do it.
"You mean her magical lasso?"
"Golden, shiny and unbreakable." She nodded.
"Are you threatening me with Diana´s lasso of truth?"
She shrugged and blinked innocently. "I´m settling some boundaries."
"It´s a long story."
She sat down again.
"I´m princess of a race of immortal warriors. I have the time. Try me."
A/N: Comments? Shall I keep going?